Method of and apparatus for finishing shuttle boxes and the like in looms



Feb. 12, 1935. R TURNER 1,991,069

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FINISHING SHUTTLE BOXES AND THE LIKE IN LOOMS Filed June 18,1934

c noentor Richard G.Turne r wmi okneg s Patented Feb. 12, 1935 METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FINISH- ,ING SHUTTLE BOXES AND THE LIKE Richard G; Turner, Worcester, Mass assignor'to] Crompton & Knowles Loom Works,

Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts orce ster,

ApplicationJune 18, 19 4 Serial o.731,o5s

7 Claims.( Cl. 51278) This invention relatesto improvements in the finishing ofshuttle boxes. and other parts of a loom which may have contact with shuttles and it is the general'object of the invention to provide 5 means for accelerating engaging surfaces.

Drop or multicell shuttle boxes as usually'made are cast in one piece andthen renderedmalleable. Because of the construction the interior the finishing of shuttle l surfaces of the walls and partitions along which the shuttles slide cannot befinished in the usual manner by power grinding and polishing. Scale, sand and fiash marks on these surfaces are removed by filing, after which the surfaces are poll ished with emery cloth by'hand. .It is common experience that after new shuttle boxes finished in this way have been in operation for several months they acquire a much improved polish and theloom will operate better than when new so far 0 as picking of ,theshuttles is concerned. Constant rubbing of the wooden walls of the shuttle against theironsurfaces of the shuttle box incident to weaving is responsible for the change, and it is upto acertainlimit. 1

' During the time that the shuttle box surfaces are being polished in this way, however; the loom is not operating at its highest efficiency and it is an important object ofmy present invention to 3 give the loom a preliminary run with a specially constructed dummy shuttle coatedwith suitable abrasive and polishing materials whichshall accelerate the polishingunder conditions practically identicalwith. loom operation. In this way the as existed in the older practice where theweaving' shuttles finished the polishing, except that the desired result is accomplished in a very short time.

Theusual weaving shuttle has resilient walls.

ploy a series of shuttles the first of which is coated with a relatively coarse abrasive andsucceeding shuttles will have coatings of progressively finer abrasive, the last step polishing or lapping the surfaces to produce a finish very similar to that Fig.1,

"found thatpicking efficiently increases with age surfaces are subjected to the same general action leather to which the abrasive or polish is applied.

occurring in a loom which has been broken in in the ordinaryway. With these and other objects in view which. will appear as the description proceeds, my 111- vention residesin the combination and arrangementof parts hereinafter described and set forth inthe claims. 1 I

. In the accompanying drawing, where convenient means of carrying out my method is set forth, Fig. 1 representsa front diagrammatic elevation of a loom equipped with shuttle boxesto' illustrate the practice of my present invention, .Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 2-2 of Figs. 3, 4 and 5 show shuttles carrying different grades of abrasive, I

Fig. 6 isa plan view of the shuttles shownxin Fig.3,and m Fig. V7 is an enlarged vertical section through a dummy shuttle coatedwith leather.

. Referring to Fig.1, the loom frame 10 supports a lay 11 having a shuttle race 12. A single shuttle box 13 at one side is destined for cooperation with A any one. of several weavingshuttles whichwill be used whenthe loom is put into production; The other sideof the loom may have a gangof boxes M having cells 15. I The box lifterrod lfioperated in known manner moves the gang of boxes vertically so that one or another of the cells is in alignment with the race 12. The picker mechanism designated generally at 17 at the box end and a! similar. mechanism -18at the plain end may be used to propel the shuttle. The loom of itself, forms no part of my. present invention and may operate in theusual manner either withboxes as shown in Fig. 1 or:with drop boxes atboth ends or with a singlebox at each end. J I

In the ordinary method of manufacturing, the, interior surfaces of the'boxes designated as front and back surfaces 20 and 21, respectively, togetherwithfltop. andbottom surfaces 22 and 23, respectively,wi1l be filed andpolished asheretofore.

In carrying my invention into effect I provide dummy shuttles which as shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 may be three different kinds S, S" and S re-, spectively. These shuttles will have tips similar to ordinary weaving shuttles and in most respects will be formed so as to have the weight and contour of ordinary shuttles destined for use in the particular loom being operated upon.

The exterior surfaces of the shuttles will be provided withabrasive heldin place by a suitable adhesive, the abrasive in shuttle S being relatively coarse, thatin shuttle S being less coarse, and as shown herein where only three stages of lapping or polishing are to be practiced,

shuttle S will have the finest abrasive. As much of the surface of the shuttles as is likely to have contact with the interior surface of the shuttle box will be coated with the abrasive.

In using these shuttles I place the shuttle S with the coarsest abrasive, as shown in Fig. 3, in the loom and pick the same back and forth repeatedly. There will be no warp in the loom and the race plate and other parts, if desired, may be shielded from the abrasive action. The filling stop motions will be rendered inoperative so that continued loom operation without weft may'take place and the boxes 1e will be moved progressively by well-known means so that each cell of the gang will be subjected to the abrasive action of shuttle S. After a certain number of picks from this dummy shuttle it will be removed from the loom and shuttle S with finer abrasive, such as shown in Fig. 4, will be placed in the loom and the picking repeated.

Asset forth herein where only three stages are described the last step will include the picking of shuttle S which has the finest abrasive. This shuttle may if desired be coated with a polishing material and it will be kept in action until the interior box surface has the required degree of smoothness.

Shuttle S is then removed and any abrasive which may have fallen off the shuttles is brushed away and the loom is then ready for weaving under conditions ofpicking equal to those of a ing my invention into effect, yet I do not wish to be limitedto the details set forth herein, as I believe I am the first to use dummy shuttles as described for the purpose set forth. The num-l ber of successive steps may be varied and the shuttles can carry abrading and. polishing materials suited to specific requirements,

From the foregoing it will. be seen that I have provided a very simple method and means for improving the finish of the interior of the shuttle boxes in which a shuttle is coated with an abrasive. orpolishing material and is. then picked back and forth between the boxes in a mannervery similar to the picking of shuttles, in a weaving operation. As many successive steps of pol-' ishing may be used as are necesary and I am not limited to the three steps suggested. Be-

cause of the accelerated action on the box surfaces it may be necessary during the first stages of the method to increase the picking forceapplied to the shuttle. and by the means employed to carry the method into effect assurance is giventhat the surface produced will be very close in character to the kind of surface produced by a shuttle after a long period of wear in the new loom. While the invention is described with particular reference to shuttle boxes, yet it can be used to finish any surface along which a shuttle is to slide in the normal weaving operation.

. Having thus described my invention it will be seen that changes and modifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, but what I claim is:

1. The method of finishing the interior surface of shuttle boxes in looms, which consists 'inproviding a shuttle having an abrasive surface, and picking the shuttle back and forth in the loom into the box and out of the box to be polished.

2. The method of finishing the interior surface of shuttle boxes in looms which consists in providing a pluraltiy, of shuttles having abrasive and polishing coatings of different degrees of fineness and picking the shuttles in sequence from the coarsest to the finest coatings.

3. The method of finishing the interior surface.

of shuttle boxes in loms which consists in providing a dummy shuttle similar in weight and ing the shuttle into and out of the shuttle-box By the method described.

and in contactwith the surface to be polished.

5. A shuttle for polishing the interior. surfaces of a shuttle boxin looms, said shuttle having the exterior surfaces thereof coated with: metal finishing material to come in contact with and finish the shuttle engagingsurfaces of the shuttle box;

faces of a loom shuttle box, a resilient materialcarried by the shuttle, and metal finishing means carried by the material and located to come in contact with and polish interior surfaces of a shuttle box.

RICHARD G. TURNER; 

